World briefs

May 4, 2013 01:12 AM

May 4, 2013 01:12 AM

Pro-democracy protesters attacked in Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya -- Hundreds of Libyan pro-democracy advocates marched in Tripoli on Friday, denouncing militias' recent blockade of government buildings and coming under attack briefly by supporters of the armed groups, in the latest sign of the turmoil that threatens the country's first elected authorities.

Raising banners that read "No democracy with force," the protesters marched on the capital's Algeria Square and Martyrs' Square. They were attacked by counterdemonstrators who tore their placards and forced them back, witnesses said. Protesters then marched to the headquarters of the Cabinet to voice support for the government.

"They beat us up with the sticks of the placards and chased us away," Mohammed al-Kirkari, an activist who was in the march, told the local al-Ahrar TV network.

Pakistan's lead prosecutor in Bhutto case killed

ISLAMABAD -- Gunmen on Friday killed the lead Pakistani prosecutor in two high-profile cases -- the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and the brutal assault on civilians in Mumbai -- shocking a country reeling from Taliban attacks as it prepares for nationwide elections.

Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali was gunned down in a hail of bullets as he drove to court in the normally quiet capital, where a concentration of diplomats, government and military officials and aid workers live. Nobody claimed responsibility for the killing, but as Ali's work put him in direct conflict with militant groups, suspicion immediately fell on them.

The shooting in Islamabad comes as Pakistan prepares for nationwide elections on May 11. Taliban militants have tried to derail the elections with a wave of shootings and bombings aimed at candidates.

German World War II plane to be salvaged off U.K.

LONDON -- A famous German World War II bomber nicknamed "the flying pencil" has spent decades submerged in the English Channel after being shot down in the Battle of Britain. Now, divers are working to bring it to the surface.

British officials on Friday announced a complex salvage operation just off the Kent coast in southeastern England to rescue the only known surviving example of the German Dornier Do 17 bomber. The operation is underway, and if all the preparations go well, the plane will be lifted from the water in three or four weeks.

But the director of London's RAF Museum, which has been raising money for the salvage, cautioned that the recovery would be risky -- divers will only be able to work for 45 minutes at a time because of perilous tides and other challenges.

Irish bishops condemn national abortion bill

DUBLIN -- Ireland's Roman Catholic leaders appealed to the public to lobby their lawmakers to reject a bill that would permit abortions deemed necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman, a measure long ordered by Irish and European courts.

In a statement, Ireland's bishops, archbishops and lone cardinal described the bill as "a dramatic and morally unacceptable change to Irish law."

"It is a tragic moment for Irish society when we regard the deliberate destruction of a completely innocent person as an acceptable response to the threat of the ... death of another person," the bishops wrote.